2:20 PM -- Slovenia is one of Europe's smallest countries -- it's roughly the same size as Massachusetts, has a population of just 2 million people, and about 680,000 households -- but it's rich in cutting-edge telecom services, such as fiber-to-the-home and IPTV, as well as having a great climate and super-friendly folk.

And the Slovenians, having bought into the broadband revolution (more than 62 percent of Slovenian homes are hooked up with high-speed Internet access), are really taking to telco TV.

National operator Telekom Slovenije has just published its first-quarter results, which show it now has more than 95,000 IPTV customers. (See Telekom Slovenia Reports Q1.)

Now, that might not sound like many, but that means more than 45 percent of its 209,000 broadband customers have also signed up for IPTV services -- a penetration rate many bigger players can only dream about.

The carrier notes that its IPTV subscriber base grew by 78 percent in the 12 months to the end of March this year, driven mainly by the rollout of higher-speed broadband, including FTTH (it now has more than 18,000 fiber access customers) and "competitive offers." (See Slovenia Snacks on Fiber Diet.)

The carrier's offer needs to be competitive because its main high-speed broadband rival in Slovenia, T-2, is also pushing its IPTV services hard: It ended 2008 with about 75,000 telco TV customers.

— Ray Le Maistre, International News Editor, Light Reading